Maharashtra records 168 more bird deaths

As many as 168 birds, including142 poultry birds, were found dead in Maharashtra on Thursday,said an official from the state animal husbandry department onFriday.

Maharashtra has been reporting deaths of variousbirds, including poultry, amid an avian flu outbreak and atotal of 19,406 birds have been found dead in the state sinceJanuary 8.

Samples collected from dead birds have been sent tolaboratories to find out cause of the death, the officialsaid.

''All poultry birds, eggs, poultry feed and droppingswithin a radius of 1 km from the poultry farm has beenscientifically destroyed,'' he said.

A total of 71,773 poultry birds, 44,046 eggs and63,234 kg of poultry feed have been destroyed from theinfected zones, he said.

Some of the samples collected from Yavatmal and Nandeddistrict, which were sent for testing on Wednesday, havetested positive for avian flu, he added.